Team Avatar plus One
by 123harrypotterfanatic
Summary: Aang was found a few years before Zuko attacked the Water Tribe for the first time. He has been living with Katara and Sokka ever since he was found. One day a mysterious girl named Kayla shows up and the adventure begins! Basically the series written with Kayla in it.
1. The Beginning

**Hi everybody! This is my first fanfiction, so will see how it goes. Hopefully you guys will like it. Thanks to anyone who reads and I love reviews! So this Avatar story is a bit of an AU. Aang has been living with Katara, Sokka and the rest of the water tribe for a while now. They know that Aang is the Avatar, but they are keeping it as quite as possible. And a new person will be added to Team Avatar! Kayla! Kayla is a firebender who ran away from her parents and the fire Nation after seeing the results of the devastation of the war and is travelling the world doing all she can to help defeat the Fire Nation. So the story starts off shortly before Zuko attacked the gang for the first time. **

**All of the mistakes are my own!**

**I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender **

**Team Avatar plus One**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

Kayla gasped when she saw the small village in the distance. It had been a long time since she had seen anyone, her only companion being the falcon that was presently perched on her shoulder. "There's a village, Dragon. Maybe we can stay with them for a while." She continued her walk towards the village, stopping when she saw a silhouette of what appeared to be a young man running towards her.

"Halt!" She heard the man say loudly. He was close enough now that she could make out his black hair and piercing blue eyes. Kayla slid into a crouch, preparing to defend herself, when the man yelped and fell face first into the snow. Kayla blinked slowly, and then a small smile tugged at her lips. The man struggled to his feet holding his weapon up to attack. Kayla settled back into a crouch getting ready for a fight. She was an exceptional firebender. Her father had always said that she was a natural when it came to her bending. She could feel the heat rushing through her body and into her fingertips.

"Who are you?" the man asked, taking a step towards her. As she looked at him closely, she realized that they were near the same age.

"My name is Kayla," she said in a calming tone. She didn't want a fight to break out when it could be avoided. "I mean you no harm. I'm just passing through. The man stood up but didn't lower his weapon, a boomerang, Kayla noticed. The man opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a young girl who ran to stand beside him.

"Sokka, you can't just go around attacking random people!" The girl glared at him sternly. Again, Kayla felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth.

"She looked dangerous!" Sokka yelled, defending himself.

"Dangerous? All she was doing was walking!"

"Yeah, she was walking in a threatening way!"

"Excuse me," Kayla said, interrupting the squabbling siblings. At least Kayla was fairly certain they were siblings. They looked too much alike not be related and their bickering reminded her of the way she and her brother used to argue. Kayla felt a twinge of sadness stab at her heart at the thought of her brother. "I don't mean to cause any trouble. I was just passing through when I saw the village and thought that I might be able to rest for a few days."

"Of course you can stay!" the girl said. Kayla noticed that the boy, Sokka, Kayla remembered, frowned at the girl's response. She nudged him in the arm and he nodded.

"Fine, you can stay." He said.

The girl smiled at Sokka and walked towards Kayla. She held out her hand. "I'm Katara and this is my brother Sokka."

"I'm Kayla," Kayla said, smiling as she shook Katara's hand. "Thank you for your kindness. It's been a long time since I've been around people. Dragon's usually my only companion." Kayla gestured towards the sky where Katara and Sokka saw a falcon circling overhead. Kayla whistled and Dragon swooped down to perch on her shoulder, looking at the siblings with disinterest before preening his feathers.

"He's beautiful," Katara said, gazing excitedly at the bird. Dragon lifted his head for a moment as if sensing that he was being talked about. "Come on, I'll show you to our little village."

**First chapter is done! What do all think? Please review and give me your thoughts. I want to be a good writer so any ideas on how to improve my writing are welcome! **


	2. Kayla Meets Aang

**Hey everyone! We have reviews. Yay! Ok, so onto the next chapter! I am going to try to upload new chapters every few days.**

**Team Avatar plus One**

**Chapter 2: Meeting Aang**

Kayla listened quietly as Katara told her what the small village had gone through since the war broke out. Katara told Kayla of her mother's death and of the departure of her father and the other men of the tribe, leaving Katara and Sokka to look after the rest of the village. Kayla looked at Katara and Sokka with a new respect. They were both so young, too young, Kayla thought to herself, to have this much responsibility thrust upon them. Kayla felt a surge of anger rush through her at the thought of the devastation that the Fire Nation had brought upon the world. It was times like these that Kayla was almost ashamed to be a fire bender. She wasn't ashamed that she had acquired the gift of fire bending, she was quite proud of her skills in the sacred art. What Kayla was ashamed of was the label that came with fire bending: a citizen of the Fire Nation. This wasn't to say that she hated the Fire Nation; after all it was her home. She was ashamed of the needless death the Fire Lord had brought on the world. Kayla was saddened to think that her home, her people, her Fire Lord had caused such pain and tragedy. It wasn't just the Earth Kingdom, Air Nomads, and Water Tribes that suffered; the fire nation suffered as well. All of the fathers who lost sons and the sons who lost fathers; it was pointless, Kayla thought, this whole war was only being fought because the Fire Lord had lusted for more power than he already had.

Kayla was pulled out of her thoughts by a group of people laughing, crowding around what looked like a young boy. Suddenly, the boy shot high into the air holding a stick that seemed to grow wings and the boy flew around the camp. Kayla gasped, amazed at what she was seeing. She had been told that the Air nomads had been extinct for a long time, yet here was this boy flying in the air! Kayla was so amazed that she almost pinched herself to see if she was dreaming when she heard Katara gasp beside her. Kayla turned her head towards Katara and saw fear in the girl's eyes. Katara exchanged nervous glances with Sokka and they both looked at Kayla nervously.

"I thought all of the Airbenders had been killed a long time ago!" Kayla said, staring with wide eyes as the boy landed on the soft snow and the people cheered and clapped. They boy smiled from ear to ear when he saw Katara and Sokka and started to run towards them.

"Hi, Katara, hi Sokka! Did you see that?" The boy came to a stop in front of the trio and looked at Kayla with curious eyes. "Is this the person you saw, Sokka? She doesn't look dangerous to me. I'm Aang!" the boy, Aang, said as he thrust out his hand towards Kayla. Kayla stared at him, blinking slowly and finally shook his offered hand.

"I'm Kayla," she said quietly, her mind still reeling from the display Aang had put on a few moments ago. "Are you an Airbender?"

"You bet I am!" Aang said cheerfully before turning to Katara and Sokka. "Hey Katara, wanna go penguin sledding with me?"

"Hold it!" Sokka yelled loudly. "Aang, you can't just go around flying when there is a potential threat in the area!"

"But there isn't one," Aang said, looking at Sokka with innocent eyes.

"But there could've been one, Aang!"

"Sokka's right, Aang," Katara said quietly. "You have to be careful, if anyone found out about you…" Katara's sentence trailed off and she glanced warily at the sea, as if expecting to see enemies appear out of nowhere. Aang bowed his head for a moment and then grabbed Kayla's hand.

"Hey, Kayla, wanna go penguin sledding with me?" Aang started to pull Kayla towards a giant hill.

"Ah, I don't know how." Kayla mumbled, struggling out of Aang's grasp. She pulled away and yawned tiredly. She looked at the sky colored in red and orange from the setting sun. "Maybe we can do it tomorrow instead?"

"Sure!" Aang said with a huge smile.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully and Kayla was awoken from a good night's sleep by soft sounds made by Dragon. She slowly opened her eyes and scratched the falcon under his chin, smiling softly when the bird closed his eyes in pleasure. Kayla stood, stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She was watching Dragon preening his feathers when a frightened yell rang over the camp. Kayla quickly got dressed and headed out of the tent that had been given to her for the night.

"Come on, Dragon," she said and the bird flew over to her shoulder, landing softly. "Let's see what's going on." Kayla scurried out of the tent and gasped when she saw a giant Fire Nation ship resting in front of the village. She ran over to the villagers and saw Aang being led onto the ship. She started to take a step forward, and then stopped. The only way that she could help would be to use her firebending and she didn't want to frighten the villagers further. When she saw one of the soldiers push Aang forward and saw Aang stumble, she rushed forward, throwing caution to the wind.

"Stop!" she yelled, tackling one of the soldiers to the ground. The soldier smacked into the ground and instinctively sent a fire ball her way, which Kayla easily dodged by rolling to the left and jumping to her feet. The other soldiers turned towards her and with a shout from their leader, Zuko, she recognized, they attacked. Kayla dodged fireball after fireball and when she sent some of her own she saw surprise on the faces of the villagers and anger on Sokka's face. The battle was over as quickly as it began, the soldiers being no match for Kayla's superior firebending skills. She grabbed Aang and pulled him behind her, protectively. She looked at Zuko and almost smirked when she saw the rage on his face, she had never really liked the Fire Lord or his family who had started this war over a century ago.

"Who are you?" Zuko yelled, stomping towards her. Kayla sent out a wave of flames, stopping his approach. She couldn't stop the flinch when she heard the gasps and the saw the fear on the villagers faces from the corner of her eye. The last thing she had wanted was to make anyone afraid of her.

"My name is Kayla," she said quietly. "I think you should leave."

"I believe that the young girl is right, Zuko," An old man said, slowly coming to stand next to the prince. "She beat all of your guards with ease; it would be unwise to challenge her."

"But-," Zuko began, but he was cut off from the old man, Iroh, Kayla remembered, was his name. He was the younger brother of the Fire Lord and uncle to the prince.

"Live today, fight tomorrow," Iroh said, placing his hand on Zuko's shoulder. Zuko looked as if he was going to argue, but one look at the heap of guards in the snow seemed to change his mind. He stomped up to the ship and boarded throwing angry glares at Kayla along the way. He wanted so badly to attack this insufferable woman, but as he watched his guards staggering onto the ship, he realized that this woman would be hard to beat. He would have to attack with cunning and strategy rather than brute strength and skill.

"I'll be back for the avatar and then I'll deal with you, firebender!" Zuko spat out. He turned around then and began shouting commands to the crew. Kayla and the villagers watched until the ship began to fade into the distance.

"Zuko will probably come back, as he said he would," Kayla said turning to face Aang. "I would advise you to leave immediately."

"I think _you_ should be the one who should leave," Sokka said, anger and wariness showing on his face. Kayla noticed that his boomerang was in his hand, not raised to attack, but there just in case he had to defend his village. Kayla looked at the faces of the villagers and saw the fear in their eyes. She flinched. This is why she kept her bending a secret; she hated the fear that she always saw, the distrust. Once again, a burning anger at the Fire Lord filled her stomach. She wasn't angry at Sokka or at the villagers for wanting her to leave. It wasn't their fault they had been raised to mistrust firebenders. Kayla nodded silently, turning to leave, when she felt a tug on her wrist. She turned around to see Aang holding her wrist, keeping her from leaving.

"Wait," he said loudly. Kayla was surprised at the authority in his voice. "Kayla saved my life; we can't just send her away."

"But she's a firebender!" Sokka said with determination. "Firebender's can't be trusted!" He turned to Kayla, pointing an accusing finger in her direction. "She's probably working with that guy!"

"What?" Aang said, surprised. "Why would she attack him if she was on his side? It was obvious that he didn't know she was." Kayla looked at Aang with surprise. Why was he defending her? Didn't he know what the firebenders had done to his people?

"I think Aang's right, Sokka," Katara said. Kayla turned to look at her. She could tell that Katara didn't exactly trust her by her body language, but instead of fear in her eyes, Kayla saw curiosity. Although Kayla had just met Katara, she could tell that Katara was usually the voice of reason. "And Kayla is right too, it's too dangerous for Aang to stay here. We'll have to leave. We can go to the North Pole and I can learn waterbending!"

"Yes, that would probably be best," Sokka said to Katara, although his eyes never left Kayla.

"I think Kayla should come, too," Aang said and everyone stared at him in shock. "I mean, the Fire Nation is going to be looking for her now, too, and you know what they say about safety in numbers."

"But she's a firebender!" Sokka said.

"I know that, but I just think that she should come along. I mean, it might be good to have a firebender with us." Aang shot Kayla a friendly smile. "I mean if you want to come with us, that is." He looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"I don't know, Aang," Katara said, still staring at Kayla. Katara liked Kayla and she wanted to trust her, but she had never met a nice firebender before.

"Trust me, Katara, Sokka," Aang said, looking them both in the eyes. "She is meant to come with us, I don't know how I know this, but I just do."

"Fine," Sokka sighed. "We trust you Aang. If your Avatar senses say that she should come, then I guess she can come with us if she wants." Sokka turned to glare at Kayla. "But don't think this means that I trust you. One wrong move and you're gone." Sokka didn't elaborate on what kind of "gone" he was talking about, but then, he didn't have to.

"Wait; hold on a moment, Avatar senses? You're the Avatar?" Kayla asked, staring at Aang in shock. Aang's cheeks flushed in embarrassment and he looked down.

"Ah, yes, I am." Aang looked up again at Kayla and smiled warmly. "So will you come with us?" Kayla looked down, deep in thought, her mind still reeling over the fact that this _boy_ standing in front of her was the Avatar. She couldn't believe it. Her thoughts turned to other matters: should she go with them? She had to admit, the idea was intriguing. To travel with the Avatar himself! She could learn so much and maybe this war could finally come to an end.

"Yes," Kayla said slowly. "I will come with you." Aang smiled widely at her and she couldn't help but smile back. She looked at Katara, who still looked curious but slightly wary of her at the same time; and at Sokka, who stared at her in mistrust. Kayla made a vow to herself that she would show them that not all firebenders were bad and not all of them agreed with this horrible war.

"We'll leave in the morning then," Sokka said, turning to walk back to the village, Katara and Aang following at his heels. Kayla allowed herself a small smile as she followed them. She had a feeling that things were about to get very interesting.

**Chapter two is now finished! What did you all think? I'll try to upload the next chapter in a few days. Don't forget to review! Thanks for reading!**


	3. Journey to the Southern Air Temple

**I am so sorry that this is so late! I got bombarded with school work**

**Alright, we're on the third chapter! Also, I am trying to decide some things about the story, mainly about Kayla. Should she and one of the gang form a beautiful romance; who should this person be? Zuko? Haru? What do you guys think? I would love your opinions!**

**Team Avatar plus One **

**Chapter 3: Journey to the Southern Air Temple**

Kayla stared in awe as the sky flew by her, the clouds so close she thought she might be able to touch them if she stretched her out her hands. Even after a few days of flying on Appa, she couldn't quite wrap her head around it. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she would be flying through the sky. She was brought out of her thoughts by Sokka.

"So, Kayla, you wouldn't happen to know that guy that attacked our village would you?" Sokka asked her. Even though Aang had said that she would be helpful on their journey, Sokka still didn't trust her. He wanted to find out everything he could about her and what she knew concerning the Fire Nation. During a war any information could prove useful.

"His name is Zuko," Kayla said quietly. Aang and Katara had gathered around them when they heard Sokka's question. "He is the prince of the Fire Nation. His father banished him a few years ago."

"Banished?" Katara asked. "Why would anyone banish their son?" Katara thought about her own father; he would never banish her and Sokka, no matter what they had done.

"I don't know the whole story," Kayla told them. "But his banishment had something to do with a war meeting and a duel that obviously didn't go to well for Zuko. The result was his banishment. I had heard something about Zuko needing to find the Avatar to get back in his father's good graces but that's all I know. I've never met the guy personally."

"I see," Sokka said, his hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "So, he will definitely be looking for Aang. We'll have to be extremely careful."

"Hey!" Aang shouted suddenly, causing everyone to jump in surprise. They watched with wide eyes as Aang ran to the edge of Appa's saddle. "I know this place; my home isn't far from here!"

"You mean the Southern Air Temple?" Katara asked, rising from where she was seated next to Sokka and walking to stand next to Aang. Aang nodded his head several times, his eyes narrowing as if he could see the temple from where he was.

"I know that you said the Fire Nation had attacked the temples and that all of the Airbenders had been wiped out, but maybe some were able to get away and find a place to hide.

"For a hundred years?" Sokka asked incredulously.

"I survived frozen in ice for a hundred years, so why not?" Aang said, turning to Sokka and shrugging.

"In any case," Kayla said, interrupting Sokka's next comment. "Stopping at the temple will give us some shelter and time to rest. Who knows, maybe we'll find something useful there?" Kayla didn't really expect to find anything but traces of the horrible massacre that had happened all those years ago, but she figured there wasn't any trouble in hoping.

"Kayla's right," Katara said, returning to her seat next to her brother. "We've been travelling for several days now, and I'm sure Appa would love to rest." Katara smiled as Appa growled when he heard his name, as if loving the idea of a good rest.

"Kayla," Sokka said, turning his attention back to finding out all he could about her. "How did you end up at the South Pole?

"I was traveling around on a ship and I had to make a quick getaway, so I took a longboat and sailed here."

"And why did you leave the Fire Nation?" Katara asked. Katara had warmed up to Kayla rather quickly, although she still didn't exactly trust the firebender.

"My family moved into one of the Earth Kingdom cities that had been seized by the Fire Nation and I saw the effects of the war. Innocent women and children, most of whom had just lost their husbands and fathers, homeless on the street or taken to prisons." Kayla shuddered and there was a faraway look in her eyes as she remembered those days. "I couldn't be loyal to a man who would cause this much destruction just for the sake of getting more power. So I decided to leave and travel the world."

"How long have you been travelling?" Sokka asked.

"About five years," Kayla said. "I left when I was thirteen." Kayla was about to say something else when Aang suddenly jumped up and turned to the others with a huge smile on his face.

"We're here!" He shouted happily. Everyone looked up to stare at the huge, majestic temple in the distance. They had reached the Southern Air Temple.

**Alright, third chapter is done and I am sorry it's short, but my updates will be slow over the next few weeks, so I wanted to ahead and get this chapter out. I hope you enjoy it!**


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